Friday, May 30, 2008

I found out about wraps late in the game with Finn. I had used the backpack hold with him, but he was 18 months old and heavy (35ish pounds :/). I was cleaning yesterday for many hours prepping for a baby shower and when I tried to put Franco back in the exersaucer for one last chore, he seriously communicated with adult-like facial expressions that it was not OK, followed by baby-like sobs. Franco is 22 pounds, sitting up and almost 6 months old, so I thought I would try putting him on my back. My husband helped me load him up and there we were, mopping the kitchen floor. Talk about awesome. I felt like he was getting in some good mommy time and I was able to get stuff done as well. Thank you wrap!

One of the things you can't do while babies are in the wrap on your back is take a self portrait, therefore, I don't have a pic of the backpack hold yet. I'll get on that tomorrow. As far as instructions go, you just start with the middle of the fabric on your tummy instead of back and literally put the wrap on backwards. We are going to be improving our wearing instructions soon . . . so much to do.

Wipes are a mom's best friend. Quick and easy access to wipes at all times is a must. The clutches are good for knowing where the wipes are. Here's a tip for being able to access the wipes a little quicker when the clutch is all folded up. When folding the clutch, on the side where the pocket opening is, place the pad flap under the diaper & wipes pocket. Then fold up the clutch as usual. That way the wipes are visible and grabable from the side of the clutch.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Jill's post below recaps a bit about the weekend, but I wanted to elaborate, if I may. BTW, Jill is going to lend her economic expertise, as well as many of her other expertii (plural of expertise?) to the Geela clan, we're so happy to have her. She takes groovy photos as well--blogging bonus!!

Moms out there know that nighttime is normal time. Oftentimes, I come cruisin' out of the kids' room yelling (in a whisper) "Off duty!!!" Given the fact that normal time starts at 7-8ish at night--early to bed for my little dudes saves my sanity--I feel the pressure to make a calculated decision about what I will do during my off-time. This weekend it was Geela, all night long. Frankly, its Julia that is queen of sewing. I got free sewing lessons as we finished some diaper clutches for etsy. The ups and downs of stamina produce giddy moments, not-so-giddy moments, and sheer slap-happiness. Sewing clutches is not so fun. However, their redemption resides in the incomparable gratification when you see the finished product. The fabric framed by the bias tape makes us a little excited.So we pulled some all-nighters and even cut by candle light one night when we had a power outtage.

The funny part is, I'm just as happy to go "On duty" when the little dudes are screaming at us from the other room at 7 am. Finn yelling "Momdad!" (his made-up collective word for his parents) is the best alarm clock I can imagine.

The other groovy part about this Geelachella weekend was our trip to Los Angeles--kid free. We had three hours. We stopped at our favorite store, bought black bagloads of knits as usual, and then realized it was time to leave and we still hadn't found what we came for--wrap fabric! After I verbalize this, Julia responds, "I don't know where we're going to find it, I've looked everywhere." Ridiculously consequently she says, "Wait!", goes walking into the store in front of us that just happened to be open on Memorial day and walks directly over to multiple bolts of our fabric, in all colors!! Until then, we had only been able to find it a color here and a color there. To find it all in one place was a splendid thing (How Willy Wonka am I? Splendid?). This was a Geela miracle! O yes, on the way out of town, Julia spotted the ice cream dude. I hopped out, bought the coconut paradise whose name the man had mentioned (Spanish word,. . . bah-something) and jumped back in the car. These are heaven by the way, we consider them our closing ceremony to LA trips. They come in big tubes of plastic (like jumbo Otter pops). He offered to clean them off for me with a crazy looking rag. I was thinking, "Please don't."

This pic kind of expresses the chaos that ensues with Geela production. Of course the female in me really wants to post a pic of what the house normally looks like. What is it that makes us so ashamed of a messy house?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

I'm not familiar with omens, but I'm pretty sure seeing a rooster roaming a (very developed) suburb of Orange County probably means you're guaranteed a pretty awesome weekend. Even with crappy weather on Memorial Day weekend, the ladies at Geela managed to have a great time cutting, pinning, sewing, photographing, and shopping...and now blogging. Our Etsy shop was running low, so we busted it out this weekend making some more diaper clutches, modest mamas, wraps, and slings. Keep checking Etsy for postings, because the new fabrics are to die for. Can a person get giddy about fabric? The answer is a resounding hell yeah you can. And we did.

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of all the fun...

The random rooster...in Brea?

Julia

Sarah

Oh the possibilities...aren't they so fun!

Anyone who has ever spent time with kids knows that it doesn't matter how many things there are to distract a child, he or she will still insist on being right by you if you're trying to get anything done. And really, is that such a bad thing?

Thursday, May 22, 2008

We only have two more clutches on Etsy. We have gone back to the sewing board to create some more. We are very excited about our new fabric combinations. Here is a sneak peak. We hope to have these done and up on Etsy in the very near future.